Pavan Named Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year

Lincoln ? The awards keep piling up for Nebraska All-American volleyball player Sarah Pavan, as she was selected as the 2006-07 Big 12 Conference Female Athlete of the Year on Friday.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

It is the second major award in the last two weeks for Pavan. The <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Kitchener, Ontario, native was chosen as the Honda-Broderick Cup winner in late-June. 

 

A media panel voted Pavan the winner from a list of nominees submitted by each Big 12 school. The award recognizes athletic performance, academic achievement and citizenship.

 

“It is truly an honor to be selected as the Big 12’s Female Athlete of the Year,” Pavan said Friday afternoon. “When you look at the other athletes who were nominated, you have national champions, national players of the year and other athletes who are some of the best athletes in their sports. The Big 12 is so strong across the board, and it is a big deal to be selected as the best student-athlete for the year.”

 

Pavan is the fourth Husker volleyball player to earn conference female athlete-of-the-year honors and the first since Greichaly Cepero was selected in 2001. They join former Big Eight Female Athlete-of-the-Year recipients Virginia Stahr (1989) and Annie Adamczak (1985) in receiving an honor that dates back more than two decades.

 

Pavan, who became the first conference student-athlete to earn the Honda-Broderick Cup since the Big 12’s inception, put together a magical 2006 season, leading the Husker volleyball team to a 33-1 record and a national title. She became only the second Division I volleyball player in NCAA history to earn both American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Player of the Year and ESPN: The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year in the same season.

 

A three-time AVCA first-team All-American and two-time Big 12 Player of the Year,  Pavan led the Big 12 in kills with an average of 5.10 per game in 2006, ranking 10th nationally in that category, and topped all Big 12 players with 5.98 points per game. She reached double figures in kills in 33 of 34 matches, and finished with 20 or more kills in 10 matches. Pavan was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2006 NCAA Championships, as Nebraska defeated fourth-ranked UCLA and second-ranked Stanford in front of the largest crowds in NCAA volleyball history to win its first national title since 2000.

 

Pavan’s athletic accomplishments pale in comparison to her achievements in the classroom, where she keeps a perfect 4.00 grade-point average in biochemistry entering her senior year. She is a two-time first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American, and turned down an opportunity to compete for the Canadian National team this summer because she wants to graduate with a degree in four years.

 

Pavan is also extensively involved in the Huskers’ Life Skills programs, serving as a speaker on the program's Tour of Excellence and during American Education Week. During the spring, she served as the keynote speaker for the School is Cool Jam, speaking to 2,300 eighth graders on dreaming big and setting high goals.

 

Other female candidates were: Lisa Ferguson (Baylor softball), Jenny Barringer (Colorado cross country and track), Lyndsey Medders (IowaState basketball), Egor Agafonov (Kansas track and field), Courtney Paris (Oklahoma basketball), Courtney Totte (OklahomaState softball), Destinee Hooker (Texas track and field/volleyball), Amanda Scarborough (Texas A&M softball) and Ana Morton (Texas Tech soccer).

 

Pavan is joined by Missouri’s Ben Askren, who was selected as the Big 12’s Male Athlete of the Year.  Askren was the 2006 and 2007 National Champion and a four-time All-America wrestler at 174 pounds. He won the Big 12 Championship in his weight class three times in addition to being named a two-time Dan Hodge Award winner - wrestling’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy. 

 

Male nominees included: Daniel Sepulveda (Baylor football), Stephen Pifer (Colorado cross country and track), Trent Paulson (Iowa State wrestling), Zlata Tarasova (Kansas track and field), Daniel Edwards (Kansas State baseball), Zac Taylor (Nebraska football), Kevin Bookout (Oklahoma track and field), Pablo Martin (Oklahoma State golf), Kevin Durant (Texas basketball), Acie Law IV (Texas A&M basketball) and Dimitrio Martinez (Texas Tech tennis).